Time-lock



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BENJAMIN F. FLINT, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

TIME-LOCK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 276,381, dated April 24, 1883.

Application filed February 3, 1863. (Model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, BENJAMIN F. FLINT, of Cincinnati, county of Hamilton, and State of Ohio, have invented certain Improvements in Time-Locks, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to time-locks; and the invention consists in combining with a timelock of that class which has a pivoted rotary looking bolt or dog-such, for instance, as the so-called Sargent Tiine-Locka permuta tion-lock having an angle-bar arranged to connect with and throw the time-lock outofcontrol whenever the duplex time-movement sh all stop by accident ortotherwise, and an automatic device for preventingthe time-lock from being thrown out of control in caseit has not stopped, as hereinafter more fully described.

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the combined apparatus. Fig. 2 is a transverse horizontal section on the line as so of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of the automatic device.

In the drawings, A of Fig. 1 represents the rotary locking bolt or dog of a time-lock, said dog or bolt being held in the locked position, as shown, by a latch, c, which at the proper time is released from its hold on the dog Aby either one or both of the pins e on the disks B, which are connected to and driven by a duplex time-movement located in rear thereof, this particular arrangement being known as the Sargent Time-Lock. It isobvious that when a lock of this kind is used either by'itself or in connection with an ordinary permutation-lock, if both of the time-movements should stop from any cause whatever, there would be no means of opening the door excepttto break it open. To remedy this difficulty I combine with the time-lock a permutation-lock, E, operating on the principle of that patented to Kook and Hal], February 25,

1879, No. 212,610, in which an extra angle-bar,

F, is used, and which is connected to the timelock by a rod or bar, D, as shown in Fig. 1, by means of which the time-lock can be thrown out of control of the dog or bolt A in case both time-movements shall'have stopped. It is obvious that if no other provisionwas made, any one becoming possessed of the secret combination could at any time throw the time-lock out of control, whether running or not, and thus open the door; and therefore, to prevent that, I also apply my automatic device or cast-oft more fully described in an application filed by me October 7, 1882; but, as in this case, the time-lock, when once thrown out of control, cannot be thrown into control again, owing to'the fact that there are no means by which the locking dog or bolt A can be thrown back into its locking position, so as to be held there by the latch O. I so arrange the parts that the extra anglebar shall first throw the automatic device into connection with the two time-movements, after which it will be necessary to set up the regular combination, and by means of the other angle-bar, R, retract the bolt H of lock E,in order to throw the time-lock out of control, at the same time' having these parts so arranged that, if either or both of 'the time-movements be running, the time-lock cannot be thrown out of control. This I accomplish as follows: The automatic device or cast-oft in this case consists of two arms or levers, I, each provided with a right-angle shoulder, as shown in Fig. 3,

I, in such a manner as to force them toward their respective shafts at to insure their engagement'therewith whenever they are drawn down, this? spring 1 being connected to one arm above and to the other one below its pivot, thereby tending to press both arms in the same direction, because in this case both arms are located on the same side of their respective shafts. Each arm I is also provided with a stop to limit its movement in the direction in which the spring operates to draw it, and which stop may consist of pins 0, located as shown in Fig, 3, or any equivalent device. It preferred,

these stops may consist of shoulders or projectious, formedeither on the arms or. on bar 0, or the'ends of the spring Z may be made that shown in my application filed January 31,

1883. It will be understood that the rotation of the shafts a in the direction indicated by the arrows in Fig. 3 will cast oif the arms I in the manner morefully explained in my Patent No. 232,604, dated September 28, 1880, and

this will be done in less time than will be required to set up the combination of the tumblers in the lock E, (said tumblers not being shown in the drawings as they are mounted on a journal or stud connected to face-plate of the 10011,) which in the drawings is represented as having been removed, the driving-disk G only being shown.

In order to disconnect the latch G from the lockingdog or bolt A, and thus throw the timelock out of control, I attach to the face of bar D a stud or pin, 1), in such aposition that when said bar is swung to one side, as indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 1, said pin 1) will strike against the latch O, and by shoving it back disconnect it from the pin n in the tail or arm of bolt A, which will then turn to the position for unlocking, as indicated by dotted lines. In order to swing the bar D backward for this purpose I arrange upon the bolt H of lock E a stud or projection, l1, and through bar D project a pin, .61, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, these parts being so arranged that when bar D is drawn down by angle-bar F the stud hand pin 01 will be in the samehorizontal plane, and so that when the bolt H is retracted the stud 71. will come in contact with pin 12, and as the bolt H. moves back it will carry the bar D along with it to the position shown in dotted lines of Fig. 1. A spring, P, is arranged to hold the bar D elevated at all times, except when drawn down by the angle-bar F, and which will therefore lift the bar the instant either or both of the arms I are thrown off from the shafts a.

The operation of the combined apparatus is as follows: Suppose the door to be closed and the locking bolt or dog A to be engaged with the latch (J of the time-lock, as shown in Fig. 1, and as it is when closed for the night. If, for any reason,the two time-movements should stop during the night, the door could not be opened in the usual manner at the proper time next morning. In such a contingency the tumblers of lock E would first be set up on the secret combination, and by operating the angle-bar F the bar D would be drawn down, thereby causing the arms I to engage upon the shafts a, thus holding the bar D in the position necessary to cause the lug h on the lockbolt H to strike against the pin d of bar D when the bolt H is retracted. As soon as this is done the operator will then proceed to set up the regular combination for the ordinary angle-bar, R, and by then retracting the bolt H will swing the bar D backward, thereby causing the pin 1) to strike against the latch (l and disengage it from the locking dog or bolt A,which will turn on its pivot and assume the unlocking position, when, of course, the boltwork can be retracted. and the door opened; butin case eitheror both ofthe time-movements should be running when the automatic-castofi' is made to engage with the shafts a of the time-movements, and which must be done before setting up the regular combination for retracting the lock-bolt H, as otherwise the bar D will not be in a position to be swung by the retraction of bolt H. Then, in that case, before the tumblers can be set up on the regular combination, the automatic cast-oft will be detached from one or both of the shafts a, according as oneor both are running, when the spring P will instantly raise the bar D, thereby lifting its pin 01 above the horizontal plane of lug h, so that, even if the bolt H should be retracted, the bar D will not be swung back, and consequently the latch G will retain the locking bolt or dog A in its locked position, thus preventing the door from being unlocked. By securing the arms I to the pivoted bar 0 and providing stops to limit the movement of said arms it will be seen that if but one of the time-movements be running that one will cast off its arm I, and the bar D, being at the same time elevated by its spring, will tilt the bar 0, as indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 3, thereby also disconnecting the arm I from the shaft that is not moving; but even if this latter arm should not be disconnected from its shaft, still the bar 0, being loosely pivoted to the bar D, would permit the latter to rise far enough to preventit from being swung back by the movement of bolt H, thus preventing the time-lock from being thrown outof control. By these means I provide means for opening the door in case both time-movements should stop, and at the same time prevent its being unlocked in case either one or both of the time-movements are still running. As the stoppage of both time-movements but seldom occurs, it is not necessary that the secret combination shall be known to those who ordinarily have chargeof the safe or vault; but. may be retained in the possession of or known only to some other officer or party, who, in turn, may be kept ignorant of the regular combination, thus preventing either party alone from opening the door in such a contingency, and in like manner preventing the possibility of burglars compelling those ordinarily having ICO charge of the safe or vault to open it after it and the automatic cast-off, and be made to operate the same and hence it will be understood that my invention is not limited to the use of the particular devices or arrangement of devices shown for that purpose. The plan shown is, however, the simplest and cheapest knownto me, and snflicient'is shown and described to enable persons'skilled in the art to vary these details as may be desired without departing from the spirit of my invention. So, too,it is obvious that, instead of using the particular permutation-lock here shown,other forms of such locks may be used, as, for instance, that patented by Kook and Hall, April 8, 1879, No. 214,045, in which two sets of tumblers are used, one for the ordinary lock-bolt and the other set for operating upon the timelock, the requisite in that respect being that there shall be an extra or secret combination for controlling or operating the connection with the time-lock and the automatic cast-off.

Having thusfully described my invention, what I claim, is-

1. In combination with a time-lock having a rotary locking bolt or dog, A, a permutationlock having one or more sets of tumblers arranged to operate without change of the combinations on two angle-bars or equivalent devices, an automatic device or cast-01h, and the bar D or equivalent means connecting the time and permutation locks and setting the automatic cast-off, said parts being arranged to operate substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In combination with a time-lock constructed substantially as shown, a permutation-lock provided with two angle-bars, an automatic device or cast-off, and the connecting-barD or equivalent devices, arranged to set the automatic cast-off and to disconnect the latch O by the movement of the bolt of the permutation-lock, substantially as shown and described.

3. In combination with a time-lock provided with the locking bolt or dog A and latch O, the sliding and swinging spring, supported bar D, provided with the pins or projections be], and having the automatic cast-oft'attached thereto, and the permutation-lock E, provided with the extra angle-bar F, and having "its bolt H provided with a projection, h, all arranged to operate substantially as described.

BENJAMIN F. FLINT. Witnesses:

CHARLES BIRD, R. '1. PULLEN. 

